Roller type travelers and flyers



April 1968 A. P. ROGERS 3,376,699

ROLLER TYPE TRAVELERS AND FLYERS Filed May 31, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet I7ZU7ZZLO 21 v CLZberi P12999 A ril 9, 1968 A. P. ROGERS 3,376,699

ROLLER TYPE TRAVELERS AND FLYERS Filed May 31, 1966 2 SheetsSheet 2 3,376,699 Patented Apr. 9, 1968 3,376,699 ROLLER TYPE TRAVELERS AND FLYERS Albert P. Rogers, Spring Lake, Mich, assignor to Brunswick Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 31, 1966, Ser. No. 554,101 3 Claims. (Cl. 57125) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE guiding means includes a pair of eye means, one of which may be positioned between the spool and the roller for guiding the filaments from the roller member to the spool, and the other of which may be positioned between the roller member and the source of the filament for guiding the filament to the roller member.

This invention relates broadly to textile machinery and more particularly to a fiyer and/or traveler for use with such machinery.

In the textile industry filaments or yarn must be fed onto or off from spools or bobbins many times during various processing steps. Presently many different fiyers and/ or travelers are used for leading a filament from one step to the next. Quite frequently at the point where the flyer or traveler is used, the direction in which the filament or yarn is traveling is changed abruptly from one direction to another. With the use of synthetic fiber filaments, and more recently, metallic fiber filaments, the

sharp change in direction can cause kinks, waves, warpage or other undesirable changes in the physical condition of the filament. It is also believed that some of these undesirable changes are caused in part by the reaction of the filament material to the heat that builds up on the surface of the currently used flyers or travelers as the filament is dragged over them at high speeds.

To overcome the many disadvantages inherent in the friction type fiyer or traveler, means are herein provided for reducing the sharpness of the angle of bend as the direction of the filament is changed by the traveler and/or fiyer, as well as providing means for producing substantially less friction at the surface of the fiyer or traveler.

It is therefore a principal object of my invention to provide an improved traveler or fiyer which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved traveler or fiyer imparting a relatively large radius of bend to a filament passing thereover.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved traveler or fiyer having reduced friction along the line of contact between a filament and the traveler or fiyer.

And still another object of my invention is to provide an improved fiyer or traveler incorporating a roller means for use in guiding a filament in a textile machine.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide an improved traveler having means for guiding a filament to the roller means, together with means for guiding a filament from said roller means to a bobbin.

And still a further object of my invention is to provide an improved fiyer for a textile making machine wherein a filament is guided from the surface of the supply pool toward the next step in its processing without sharp or abrupt changes of direction therein.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a portion of a textile making machine showing my improved fiyer in position thereon;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged top view of the portion of the textile making machine shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a somewhat schematic perspective view of a different portion of a textile making machine;

FIGURE 6 is a partially broken away plan view of one portion of the mechanism of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

In the exemplary embodiments of the invention as shown and described in the drawing, similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The form of my invention shown in FIGURES 1 through 4, inclusive, is illustrated for use with a conventional upstroke twisting portion 10 of a textile making machine, which portion comprises a spindle 11 rotatably mounted on a frame (not shown) for supporting a spool 13 of filaments 14 which are shown being unthreaded from the spool 13 by means of a fiyer 15 which is operatively mounted on said spindle 11 and carries a shroud 16.

The spindle 11 has a bottom portion 17 bolted thereto with a tubular hub 18 keyed around the axis of the spindle. A pair of guide slots 19 and wedges 20 are keyed in the outer surface of the hub 18 for wedging against the inner surface of the sleeve 22 forming the center core of the spool 13 upon which the filaments 14 are wound. The wedges 20 are urged into the sleeve 22 of the spool 13 by tightening the threaded stud 24. The mechanism designated generally as 23 which is operatively connected to fiyer 15 is used to attach the fiyer 15 to the spindle 11 at a definite location by means of the balls 27 and groove 28 and yet allowing relative rotation of the fiyer 15 about the spindle 11.

As can be seen in FIGURES l and 3, the filament is led from the outer surface of the spool along a line lying in a plane generally tangential to the surface of the outer layer of filaments on the spool. The filament is led to and around the fiyer 15 and up through an opening in the shroud 16. The filament is then guided through eyelets or guides 26 and then onto a capstan which serves to pull the filament 14 and unwind it from the spool 13. The spindle 11 and spool 13 are rotated by a motor, a pulley or other means, thereby imparting twist to the filament.

The fiyer 15 is comprised of a supporting block 30 secured by a pair of screws 31 to the inner surface of the downwardly depending wall 32 of the shroud 16 along one edge of the enlarged opening 34 formed in said wall 32.. A roller member 35 is rotatably mounted to an angled wall 36 of said block 30 by means of a threaded shaft 38 passing through one raceway of a ball bearing 39 and through a spacer sleeve 40 into threaded relation with the block 30 of said fiyer 15. The outer raceway of the ball bearing 39' is secured in a recessed opening 42 in the roller 35 by means of the snap ring 43 seating in the groove 44in said roller so that the roller 35 can roll freely about the axis of the shaft 38. A V-shaped groove 45 is formed in the pcripheral surface of the roller 35 such that a plane contain- 3 ing the apex of the groove is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the shaft 38. As the roller 35 rolls about the axis of said shaft 38, the groove 45 functions in the plane lying generally tangential to the outer layer of filaments 14 on the spool 13, as will be described more fully hereinafter.

Looking first at FIGURE 2, a dashed line 47 is shown extending between the groove 45 and the outer surface of the sleeve 22 of the spool 13, which line represents the path of travel of a filament 14 as it unwinds from the last row of filaments on the spool. A dashed line 48 is shown extending from the groove 45 to the outermost layer of filaments 14 on a full spool 13 of filaments and represents the line or path of travel of a filament 14 as it starts to unwind a full spool 13. The plane containing the apex of the groove 45 in the roller 35 of the fiyer 15 generally bisects the angle between the lines 47 and 48 so that as the layers of filaments 14 are unwound from the spool 13, the angle of approach of the filament 14 to the groove will vary between the lines 47 and 48 of FIGURE 2. The filament 14 at all times approaches the groove 45 in the plane generally tangential to the surface of the spool 13.

The filament 14, as it is unwound from the spool 13, approaches the fiyer 15 in the vertical plane from a wide variety of angles also. As is illustrated in FIGURE 3, the filament 14 approaches the roller 35 from above, as shown by the dotted line 49, as the filament is unwound from the top of the spool or from below, as shown by the dotted line 50, as the filament is unwound from the bottom of the spool. The traversing of the filament up and down the surface of the spool as it unwinds from the spool generally will always be in the same plane from top to bottom and approaches the groove 45 in the roller 35 along a generally common plane.

As the filament 14 approaches the roller 35, it nests in the groove 45, traverses around the outer surface of the roller 35, and exits therefrom along a relatively constant angle as it approaches and passes through the eyelet or guide 26. The diameter of the roller 35 can be varied so as to provide the filament 14 with the proper amount of radius of curvature as the filament 14 passes around said roller so as to prevent damage to the filament caused by excessive abrupt changes in direction of the filament.

With some filaments the radius of the roller 35 should be considerably larger than with others so as to prevent working of the material of the filament as it passes from the spool 13 to the guide 26. Since the roller 35 notates with the filament, the friction between the filament and the roller is reduced to a minimum so that the roller 35 will not become heated excessively as a result of the friction between the roller and the filament so as to prevent the deleterious effects of heat on the material of the filament.

A second roller 35 is shown on the fiyer 15 at the right hand side of FIGURE 2, and is used to provide a balanced construction which is necessary because of the high rotational speed of the spindle and fiyer, which in the illustrated example, can be approximately 10,000 rpm. The direction of orientation of the rollers can be varied so as to allow for counterclockwise unwinding as well as the clockwise form shown.

Although the fiyer 15 is shown for use with an upstroke twisting spindle, it is not intended that the scope of the disclosures will be limited solely to such mechanism. It is intended that the roller type fiyer 15 will be used wherever filaments are adversely affected by too sharp a change in direction as the filament is moved from one location to another in a textile making machine.

The modification of my invention shown in FIGURES through 7, inclusive, is described for use on a downstroke twisting mechanism of a textile making machine. The downstroke twister 100 has a bobbin 101 rotatably mounted on a suitable frame in a conventional manner. A traversing ring 102 is mounted on the textile machine for movement up and down relative to the bobbin in a well known manner. A revolving guide or traveler 103' is suitably mounted on a track 104 on the traversing ring 102 for traversing the bobbin 101 as said traveler 103 feeds filament 105 onto said bobbin. Eyelets or guides,

106 and 107 are supported on the frame above the bobbin 101 for guiding the filament 105 therethrough toward the traveler 103 and bobbin 101. The traveler 103 is comprised of a bracket member 110 which has a pair of prong shaped mounting fingers 112 extending outwardly from said bracket in partially encircling relationship with the track 104 of the traversing ring 102. The holding of the traveler 103 on the track 104 of the traversing ring 102 is once again conventional and well known in the art.

Carried on the bracket 110 is. a mounting block 115 which has a lug 116 with a surface lying at an angle therewith against which a roller 118 is rotatably mounted by means of a threaded shaft 119 which passes through a roller bearing, not shown, and spacer sleeve 120. A V- groove 121 is found in the peripheral surface of said roller 118. The mounting of the roller 118 to the block 115 is similar to the mounting of roller 35 to the block 30 described with respect to FIGURES l-4. An S-shaped bracket 122, as shown in FIGURE 7, bolted by bolt 123 to the arm 126 outwardly away from said base portion 124, as 1 shown in FIGURES 6 and 7.

An eyelet 129 is seated in an aperture 130 formed in the arm 125 with the axis of the eyelet aligned with and lying in the plane containing the apex of the groove 12]. of the roller 118. Similarly, an eyelet 131 is seated in an aperture 132 in the flange 127 of the arm 126 with the axis of the eyelet aligned with and lying in the plane containing the apex of the groove 121. The filament is led from the guides 106, 107 through the eyelet 131 around the roller 118 in the groove 121 through the eyelet 129 and onto the surface of the bobbin 101.

In this form of the invention the advantageous results of the large radius of curvature of the roller 118 is included. However, in order to provide for a wider angle of approach of the filament to the traveler 103 and from the traveler to the bobbin, the extra eyelets or guides are provided. The eyelets assure that the filaments will not jump out of the groove in the roller 118.

The plane of the groove 121 lies generally tangential to the surface of the bobbin 101. The bobbin 101 is made up of a central sleeve which in the illustrated form is somewhat cone shaped. As the traversing ring 102 moves up and down along the axis of the bobbin 101, it leads filament 105 in a continuous spiral up and down the outer surface of the cone. After the first layer of filament 105' has been placed on the surface of the cone, the tangential line from the traveler 103 to.the surface of the bobbin 101 gradually moves from the dotted line 135 of FIG- URE 6 to the dotted line 137 thereof. The plane passing through the groove 121 and eyelets 129, 131 intersects generally the angle between the lines 135 and 137, so as to minimize the deviation from said plane. The eyelet 129 serves to guide the filament 105 into the groove 121 so as to reduce friction between the filament and the surfaces of the groove. The eyelet 131 guides the filament from the groove 121 to the guides 106, 107 so that the filament leaves the groove 121 along the plane of said groove. Since the filament enters and leaves the groove 127in the plane of said groove, friction between the filament and the roller is reduced to a minimum, thereby reducing heating of the roller. The diameter of the roller 118 can be varied to accommodate for the different characterismeans of the traveler 103, is guided by the traveler around the groove in the surface of the roller 118 without work ing the material of the filament and without causing kinks or other undue stress in the filament.

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a textile apparatus having a spindle and a spool carried by said spindle, means for guiding filaments with respect to the surface of said spool comprising a roller member, a traveler on a traversing ring for supporting said roller member in spaced relationship to the surface of said spool, filament coacting means on the periphery of said roller member aligned generally along a tangent with respect to the surface of the spool, and means carried by said traveler for guiding the filaments to and from said roller member.

2. The textile apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guiding means comprises a pair of eye means on said traveler.

3. The textile apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guiding means comprises a bracket means on said traveler, a pair of guides carried by said bracket, one of said guides being positioned between the spool and said roller member for guiding the filament from said roller member to said spool and the other of said guides being positioned between said roller member and the source of the filament for guiding the filament to said roller member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 580,411 4/1897 Laurency 57123 791,259 5/ 1905 Fredenburgh 242-167 2,314,740 3/1943 Sherman et al. 57125 3,099,126 7/1963 Laureti 5758.7 3,332,225 7/1967 Drisch et al. 57125 FRANK J, COHEN, Primary Examiner.

20 W. H. SCI-IROEDER, Assistant Examiner. 

